Meet Our Guests

Jill Trainer

Dean

Trainer, a former Biology professor at the University of Northern Iowa, was named dean of Sacramento State's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 2007.

Her research interests include behavioral ecology and ornithology. She holds a master's degree and a doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree in Zoology from UC Berkeley.

Mary Blake

Biological Sciences alumna

Blake is the 2013 President's Award winner, selected from among the seven Dean's Award winners who were chosen by the deans of their respective colleges.

She has conducted research on treating leukemia, and she volunteers in hospital cancer wards and at camps for children with cancer. Blake is president of Future Black Doctors and Dentists and the lead student mentor for the Health Professions Pipeline Project. She also founded the student service organization BioCorps.

Tom Savage

Biological Sciences professor

Savage's current research focuses on the role of pyruvate kinase, the final reaction of glycolysis, in regulating glycolytic flux in the cytosol and the plastid in tissues with different biosynthetic demands.

He earned a bachelor's degree in Biology and Environmental Science from Willamette University and a master's degree in Forest Science from Oregon State University. Savage also holds both a master's and a doctorate in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Washington State University.

Tom Peavy

Biological Sciences professor

Peavy's research focuses on understanding how the molecular components of the egg extracellular matrix (zona pellucida/ vitelline envelope) facilitate successful species-specific fertilization, and how their structure and function have evolved in different vertebrate species. The results will have potential applications in the clinical diagnoses of infertile couples, assisted reproductive technologies, contraceptive strategies and conservation biology.

Rich Hedman

Director of MASE: Center for Math and Science Education

In addition to his leadership role with MASE, Hedman is the co-director of the Sacramento Area Science Project (SASP). He designs and provides professional development programs to improve the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in Sacramento area schools.

Hedman holds two bachelor's degrees in Engineering and a master's degree in Education, all from UC Davis. After a brief career as an engineer, he taught high school-level science for nine years. He became MASE director in 2005.

Ron Coleman

Biological Sciences associate professor and lecturer for the Center for STEM Excellence

The typical person's day doesn't involve thinking about the parenting habits of fish in rain forests, but Ronald Coleman isn't typical. He can wax enthusiastic about working with cichlid fishes, the harsh realities of their existence and how adept they are at making seemingly coldblooded life-and-death choices.

Coleman has been at Sacramento State since 2001 and has researched fish in the Costa Rican rain forest since the late 1980s.